(Minghui.org) Two women serving time for their faith have been abused since their admission to Liaoning Province Women’s Prison.
Ms. Zheng Shuchun of Dandong City and Ms. Chen Yanyu of Fushun City were arrested four days apart, on September 11 and September 15, 2016, respectively. Both women were targeted because they refused to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
Ms. Zheng was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison and Ms. Chen 2 years. Their appeals were both rejected, though Ms. Zheng’s sentence was reduced to 5.5 years.
This is not the first time that the two practitioners have been targeted for their faith. Ms. Zheng’s latest arrest took place less than one year after she finished serving 7 years in prison, while Ms. Chen had been given one year of forced labor and 2.5 years of jail term in the past.
Ms. Zheng and Ms. Chen are holding firm to their faith during their latest imprisonment. Ms. Chen went on a hunger strike to protest the false imprisonment and was brutally force-fed. Two groups of inmates also took turns watching her at night. As soon as she dozed off, they pinched her eyelids.
On November 14, 2017, inmate Zhao Jing opened the window in the cell and stripped naked Ms. Chen. Zhao also slapped Ms. Chen in the face and tried to force her to sign statements promising to renounce Falun Gong. Zhao said that division head Dai Jing ordered her to abuse Ms. Chen as such.
Ms. Zheng, who is in her 60s, was not spared. Guard Xi Yutong only gave her a meager amount of food to eat every day and prohibited her from purchasing daily necessities such as toilet paper.
Xi often ordered other inmates to curse at and beat Ms. Zheng. She was once forced to stand for a whole day and deprived of sleep at night. She lost about 40 pounds in just a few months of imprisonment.
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